Old Women, Transfiguration, and Cats: Professor McGonagall’s Connection to the Historical Witch Figure

Since the development of the witch figure during the 14th to 16th centuries, that figure has become an important part of many fantasy stories. Although the fantasy witch figure does not always mirror the historical figure there are still similarities that can be seen. Many of the defining traits of witches that are seen now like age, gender, and types of magic can be attributed to the historical figure of the witch. But in many fantasy retellings, there are aspects of the historical witch figure that is left out. What is left out largely depends on the actions of the witch and whether the character is “good” or “bad.” One very interesting modern representation of a witch is the character of Professor McGonagall from the Harry Potter series created by J.K. Rowling. She is an especially interesting character because she shares many similarities to the historical witch figure while having large differences as well. This paper will begin with a look at Professor McGonagall’s physical appearance and how it is very similar to the historical witch. After the look at her physical appearance, there will be a section on her power of shapeshifting, or as it is called in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, transfiguration. In addition to shapeshifting, the paper will also look at cats and familiars since McGonagall can turn into a cat. This paper will argue that Professor McGonagall reflects the historical witch figure because she is an elderly woman, is skilled in magic like shapeshifting, and makes use of a cat familiar which has connections to the historical witch figure.

One of the major similarities between McGonagall and the historical witch figure is the fact that she is an elderly woman. It was believed that women were more likely to be witches for a variety of reasons. One of the key contributors to the idea was Heinrich Kramer in his book the Malleus Maleficarum. Kramer describes women as being more likely to succumb to the devil due to their wickedness. A woman’s wickedness is greater than any other wickedness. Much of Kramer’s idea of women being wicked comes from the traits and qualities that he believes women were imbued with. These traits and qualities of women include: “a foe to friendship, an inescapable punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a domestic danger, a delectable detriment, [and] an evil of nature.”^[i] Kramer links wickedness to a woman’s chance of being more likely to succumb to the devil because wicked women are more likely to waiver and renounce their faith which is the base of witchcraft.^[ii]

Even though all women were viewed as being witches there was one group within that larger group of women who were often targeted more; that group being old women. Old women were more likely to be witches for a variety of reasons that goes beyond Kramer’s explanation. Claudia Honegger uses the explanation offered by Keith Thomas and Alan Macfarlane as to why older women were accused of witchcraft. Thomas and Macfarlane attribute older women’s position in society as being a reason; older women were marginal, dependent, and powerless. Due to their position in society, the reactions to them were more likely to be hostility or guilt. Their position as being powerless led people to believe that older women would use magic to commit acts of revenge.”^[iii] Other reasons as to why older women were accused of witchcraft is because of their knowledge in healing and their sexuality. There was a belief that older women would harm society due to their perverted, evil knowledge and power.^[iv] The historic witch was often described as being an old, poor woman who was single.^[v] This depiction of witches matches the depiction of older women. An example of a depiction of an older woman in art comes from Hans Grien Baldung in his painting The Ages of Life with Death. In this painting Baldung’s depiction of women is similar to the image of the post-menopausal and infertile witch.^[vi]

Professor McGonagall is similar to the depiction of the historical witch figure because in the movie Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone she is presented as an old woman. She has a wrinkly face and grey hair. It is unclear if her body is depicted as being frail because she wears billowy robes that prevent people from being able to see her body.^[vii] Her physical appearance is very similar to the depiction of the older woman in Baldung’s painting. In the painting, the woman is shown as having wrinkly skin, a frail body, and grey hair.^[viii] Another aspect of the historical witch figure that McGonagall reflects is knowledge. One reason why older women were believed to be witches is because of the knowledge that they had regarding healing. Although McGonagall does not share the knowledge of healing she still has a great knowledge about transfiguration which is the subject that she teaches at Hogwarts.^[ix] Another aspect of the historical witch figure that McGonagall reflects is that much of her power comes from her magic. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, it appears that magic functions as a way for older people who would otherwise likely not have a lot of power to have power granted to them through the use of magic.^[x] Older people like McGonagall were likely perceived as being less powerful due to their age but through her magic, McGonagall can have a significant amount of power and authority. Even though McGonagall is similar to the historical witch figure through her gender and age there are considerable differences. Some of those differences are that the witches were often portrayed in some sexual way and McGonagall is not.^[xi] The knowledge that witches were often said to have was perceived as being evil.^[xii] This is not the case for McGonagall since she sits on the “good” side against evil.^[xiii] McGonagall represents the physical appearance of the historical witch figure but does not include the negative or evil aspects that the historical witch figure was imbued with.

The similarities between the historical witch figure and McGonagall goes beyond just physical appearance, the type of magic that is used by McGonagall is similar to the historic witch’s magic. The magic that is used in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone are spells and the practitioners of magic use wands to cast the spells. But there are specific types of magic that certain people are only able to do, one of those types is shape-shifting into animals. In the Harry Potter universe, the people who shapeshift are referred to as animagi. McGonagall herself is an animagus, so she has the power to turn herself into a cat.^[xiv] A witch having the ability to shape-shift is not uncommon; there is evidence from documents that attribute shape-shifting to witches. There are accounts of some witches turning into animals as a way to attack people and get the needed ingredients for their powders and ointments. There is one story from the fifteenth century of this occurring were a student and her teacher covered themselves in an ointment and said a spell allowing the two women to transport inside a neighbouring house. The women arrived at the house in a “transfigured form, presumably that of a small animal” where they drank the blood of an infant.^[xv] By turning into animals these women were able to enter the house unsuspected allowing them to obtain what they needed. The idea of using the power of shape-shifting as a way to do something in secret exists in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. At the beginning of the movie McGonagall lets it be known that she had been spying on the Dursleys leading up to the day that Harry would be dropped off with them. It is like the story with the two witches because McGonagall was able to enter the non-magical world and remain in secret to obtain the information that she wanted to know about the Dursleys. Although it is not exactly similar because McGonagall’s intentions are not sinister, like other witches, rather they are protective because she wants to know what the Dursleys are like to determine if Harry would be safe there.^[xvi]

McGonagall’s connection to shape-shifting goes beyond her power to transform because the class that she teaches at Hogwarts is transfiguration. Transfiguration is defined as “the action of transfiguring or state of being transfigured; metamorphosis.”^[xvii] Based on this definition McGonagall is teaching her students to transform objects into other objects. Since she teaches transfiguration it shows that she can shape-shift objects. A witch’s ability to shape-shift others is something that can be seen when looking at the historical witch figure. Examples of shape-shifting objects can be seen as far back as Ancient Greece. One example comes from Circe who in the Odyssey turned Odysseus’ army into pigs using a wand and a “baneful drug.”^[xviii] The use of a wand is similar to McGonagall since that is how she can do magic. But instead of a material like an ointment or drug, she uses spells in addition to her wand.^[xix] Throughout the history of witches, there have been instances where witches are attributed with the power to shape-shift themselves and others, evidence of this can be seen in McGonagall since she can transform herself and presumably other objects.

As mentioned above a part of McGonagall’s magic is to be able to turn into a cat. The cat itself is similar to the idea of a familiar. The presence of familiars in trials and other records were primarily an English phenomenon. The first record of a familiar appearing in a trial comes from the trial of Dame Alice Kyteler in 1324.^[xx] “Familiars were minor demonic spirits that took the shapes of cats and other animals and were believed to assist witches in performing their malevolent magic.”^[xxi] The definition of what a familiar was went beyond just a demonic spirit to include any form of a spirit that assisted people in any way.^[xxii] Familiars were very prominent in witchcraft trials, around three-quarters of trial records have familiars in them. In these records, the familiars take different forms, but the most common form is the animal form. Normally, the animals that the familiars take the form of are mundane ones like cats, dogs, mice, insects, and toads.^[xxiii] Familiars also could change the appearance of witches to one that was less human and more “beastial.”^[xxiv] There are also instances where the witches could transform into their familiar.^[xxv] Familiars were often anthropomorphized because they were given human names and communicated with people by speaking.^[xxvi] It was also believed that familiars were “living in domestic intimacy with the witch.”^[xxvii] Familiars were beings that helped witches in their magic while also acting as a symbol for the devil, therefore, cementing the demonic pact.^[xxviii]

McGonagall’s cat acts as a familiar because it is a part of her magic since it is her magical status as an animagus that allows her to turn into a cat. As mentioned above witches sometimes could turn themselves into their familiars.^[xxix] But the largest connection that exists between historical witches and McGonagall is the fact that she turns into a cat and not any other animal.^[xxx] Cats have been long connected to witches for a variety of reasons. It was in Europe during the Middle Ages that the connection between cats and evil was cemented. The connection was based on the lewdness of cats and the Christian association of them with the devil. It was these ideas about the evil that led to cats being associated with witches as either familiars or something that witches turned into.^[xxxi] Cats are also one of the more common types of familiars with evidence of them appearing in various trial records. As mentioned above one of those instances comes from the trial of Dame Alice Kyteler. In this trial, the familiar figure that assisted her with her magic appeared in the form of a man, dog, and cat.^[xxxii] Another trial record that has the familiar taking the form of a cat comes from Chelmsford in 1566. In this trial, the familiar is passed down between family members but the familiar takes the form of a cat until it turns itself into a toad for the benefit of the witch.^[xxxiii] As the evidence suggests cats have a prominent connection to witches which can be seen in writings about witches as well as trial records so the fact that McGonagall can turn into a cat and not another common creature like a frog or dog, is a very prominent similarity between McGonagall and the historic witch figure. The large difference between McGonagall and the historic witch figure is that McGonagall is not evil and her intentions are not those of maleficia. So McGonagall’s familiar figure does not carry the same symbolism as the historic familiars since there is a separation from the devil, unlike the connection that historic familiars have to the devil.

McGonagall reflects the historical witch figure because she is an elderly woman, can shape-shift into an animal, and has a familiar figure that is a cat. Due to her age, McGonagall fits into the idea that older people, especially women, were powerless so they used magic to protect themselves.^[xxxiv] There is also a connection between the knowledge of older people and witchcraft. Due to McGonagall’s age and her position as a teacher it can be assumed that she has great knowledge about magic.^[xxxv] In addition to her age and knowledge, McGonagall is similar to the historic witch figure because she can shape-shift into an animal. She was able to use this ability to do something that she otherwise might have not been able to do. As a cat, she was able to spy on the Dursleys before Harry’s arrival.^[xxxvi] Since it was believed that witches could turn into their familiars, McGonagall’s cat figure represents a familiar figure.^[xxxvii] The cat also carries significance since it has a connection to the historic witch figure. Cats are a common type of familiar and evidence of them can be found in trial records like the one of Dame Alice Kyteler in 1324 and a trial in Chelmsford in 1566. While there are similarities there are still differences between McGonagall and the historic witch figure. The biggest difference is that McGonagall does not act with maleficia and there is no direct connection to her and the devil or evil since she is on the “good” side. Even though McGonagall does not share the same intentions and connection that the historic witch figure did there are still strong similarities between the appearance of and type of magic that McGonagall uses and has.

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^[i] “Heinrich Kramer: Malleus Maleficarum, 1486,” in The Witchcraft Sourcebook, ed. Brian P. Levack (Oxon: Routledge, 2015): 64.

^[ii] Ibid., 64.

^[iii] Claudia Honeggar, “Comment of Garrett’s “Women and Witches”,” Signs 4, no. 4 (1979): 793.

^[iv] Encarnacion Juarez-Almendros, “The Disabling Aging of Female Bodies: Midwives, Procuresses, Witches and the Monstrous Mother,” in Disabled Bodies in Early Spanish Literature: Prostitutes, Aging Women and Saints,  (Liverpool University Press, 2017): 83, 86.

^[v] Alison Rowlands, “Witchcraft and Old Women in Early Modern Germany,” Past & Present, no. 173 (2001): 50.

^[vi] Lynn Bothelo, “Old women and sex: fear, fantasy, and a defining life course in Early Modern Europe,” Clio. Women, Gender, History  42, (2015): 193.

^[vii] Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, directed by Chris Columbus (2001; United Kingdom: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., 2002), DVD.

^[viii]  Bothelo, “Old Women and sex: fear, fantasy, and a defining life course in Early Modern Europe.” 190.

^[ix] Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, directed by Chris Columbus (2001; United Kingdom: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., 2002), DVD.

^[x] Ibid.

^[xi] Ibid.

^[xii] Encarnacion Juarez-Almendros, “The Disabling Aging of Female Bodies: Midwives, Procuresses, Witches and the Monstrous Mother,” in Disabled Bodies in Early Spanish Literature: Prostitutes, Aging Women and Saints, 83.

^[xiii] Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, directed by Chris Columbus (2001; United Kingdom: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., 2002), DVD.

^[xiv]  Elizabeth Ezra, “Becoming Familiar: Witches and Companion Animals in Harry Potter and His Dark Materials,” Children’s Literature 47, (2019): 179-180.

^[xv] Richard Kieckhefer, “Mythologies of Witchcraft in the Fifteenth Century,” Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft 1, no. 1 (2006): 87.

^[xvi] Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, directed by Chris Columbus (2001; United Kingdom: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., 2002), DVD.

^[xvii] “transfiguration, n.”. OED Online. June 2020. Oxford University Press. https://www-oed-com.prxy.lib.unbc.ca/view/Entry/204717?redirectedFrom=transfiguration.

^[xviii] Elizabeth Ann Pollard, “Witch-Crafting in Roman Literature and Art: New Thoughts on an Old Image,” Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft 3, no. 2 (2008): 128.

^[xix] Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, directed by Chris Columbus (2001); United Kingdom: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., 2002), DVD.

^[xx] Helen Parish, ““Paltire Vermin, Cats, Mise, Toads, and Weasils”: Witches, Familiars, and Human-Animal Interactions in the English Witch Trials,” Religions 10, no. 134 (2019): 1, 3.

^[xxi] “Witches’ Demonic Familiars at Chelmsford, 1566,” in The Witchcraft Sourcebook, ed. Brian P. Levack (Oxon: Routledge, 2015): 243.

^[xxii] Emma Wilby, “The Witch’s Familiar and the Fairy in Early Modern England and Scotland,” Folklore 111, no. 2 (2000): 284.

^[xxiii] Parish, ““Paltire Vermin, Cats, Mise, Toads, and Weasils”: Witches, Familiars, and Human-Animal Interactions in the English Witch Trials,” 5.

^[xxiv] Ibid., 7.

^[xxv] Ezra, “Becoming Familiar: Witches and Companion Animals in Harry Potter and His Dark Materials,” 176.

^[xxvi] Parish, ““Paltire Vermin, Cats, Mise, Toads, and Weasils”: Witches, Familiars, and Human-Animal Interactions in the English Witch Trials,” 9.

^[xxvii] Ibid., 284.

^[xxviii] Ibid., 2.

^[xxix] Ezra, “Becoming Familiar: Witches and Companion Animals in Harry Potter and His Dark Materials,” 176.

^[xxx] Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, directed by Chris Columbus (2001); United Kingdom: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., 2002), DVD.

^[xxxi] Maria Nikolajeva, “Devils, Demons, Familiars, Friends: Toward a Semiotics of Literary Cats,” Marvels & Tales 23, no. 2 (2009): 250.

^[xxxii] “The Trial of Dame Alice Kyteler, 1324,” in The Witchcraft Sourcebook, ed. Brian P. Levack (Oxon: Routledge, 2015): 43.

^[xxxiii] “Witches’ Demonic Familiars at Chelmsford, 1566,” in The Witchcraft Sourcebook, ed. Brian P. Levack (Oxon: Routledge, 2015): 244-249.

^[xxxiv] Honeggar, “Comment of Garrett’s “Women and Witches”,” 793.

^[xxxv] Juarez-Almendros, “The Disabling Aging of Female Bodies: Midwives, Procuresses, Witches and the Monstrous Mother,” in Disabled Bodies in Early Spanish Literature: Prostitutes, Aging Women and Saints, 86.

^[xxxvi] Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, directed by Chris Columbus (2001); United Kingdom: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., 2002), DVD.

^[xxxvii] Ezra, “Becoming Familiar: Witches and Companion Animals in Harry Potter and His Dark Materials,” 176.

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